Go through our publications! At ENRS, we want to create a forum for exchange of opinions between historians, social studies scholars, and representatives of other disciplines engaged in memory studies. One of the ways of achieving this goal is by publishing our own annual journal "Remembrance and Solidarity Studies", as well as supporting external publications focused on remembrance and history of the 20th century in Europe.

Photo of the publication People Who Survived the War – Stories of Survival, Loss, and Love in the Shadow of a Difficult Fate.
Justyna Pawlaczyk

People Who Survived the War – Stories of Survival, Loss, and Love in the Shadow of a Difficult Fate.

2025
language: English
Tags
  • Second World War
  • "Grandparents. Grand Stories" competition
  • Honourable Mention
  • Lesson scenario

TEACHER: Justyna Pawlaczyk
SCHOOL: Edu Owls Polish Saturday School in Leicester, United Kingdom
RUNNING TIME: 45-minute lesson
CLASS: Lesson for students aged 10-15.

SUMMARY:

This lesson plan was created to help children and young people understand that despite different times, values such as strength, courage, perseverance, love, and coping with difficulties are timeless. Contemporary challenges, such as social pressure, emotional difficulties, or problems related to various kinds of existential crises, also require courage and resilience. Showing how people coped in extreme conditions of war, captivity, and an uncertain future can help young people better understand how to overcome problems, where to draw strength and joy from life, and how to appreciate what they have.

The stories included in this plan are true, based on the experiences and life stories of the author's family members. None of the mentioned individuals are still alive; all information comes from conversations with both the heroes themselves and their living children. The plan includes commemorative photographs from wartime and later periods.

The plan can be modified and adapted to the specific group of students.